Jul. 25, 2014

“Because the [Dune] material looks so exotic at first, I would ask people to keep trying to relate the story of Dune to our current situation on Earth in 2014,” says Robinson. “What do you see in the book that is a funhouse mirror reflection of our world right now?”

According to Robinson, reading sci-fi often involves an act of translation. Readers must look past the exoticism and space opera to see how the story pertains to their own time and place. “It’s that translation process that every reader of science fiction who reads it a lot gets used to and learns to love,” he says. “It isn’t just a story about whatever it’s about, it’s also a story about us right now.”

So, here’s Robinson’s question:

What does Dune have to tell us about 2014?

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